NAHUNTA — Brantley County’s Board of Education held the first of two Public Hearings for a proposed $42,667,131 budget prior to its monthly work session.
The FY26-27 budget is $1,518,959 higher than the FY25-26 ledger of $41,148,172. A final Public Hearing is set for Monday, June 29 at 4 p.m., with a vote for adoption to follow for a July 1 implementation for the new fiscal year.
Superintendent Dr. Kim Morgan and Director of Finance/ Federal Programs Blake Johns walked board members through the budget.
Brantley County will receive $34,629,523 through state allotment, which includes Equalization and other state grants. The funding is an increase of $1,944,325 over FY25-26.
Equalization aid makes up a significant portion — sometimes up to 15 percent — of operating revenue for low-wealth, rural school systems.
Georgia calculates grants by ranking school districts — Brantley County is 174th out of 180 districts — based on the local tax revenue they can generate per student. Districts falling below the state average (removing the top and bottom 5% of districts) receive extra state funds.
The State of Georgia utilizes this model through the Quality Basic Education (QBE) Act.
Local taxes will generate $6,868,520 of the budget, up $980,527 over last year. Other local source funding is $1,900,873 — an increase of $44,234 from FY25-26.
There is also an increase of $101,075 in other state sources, totaling $8,512,188. The BOE expects to have a deficit of $343,426 in fees and taxes not collected.
The biggest expenditure to the budget is in the Instruction line item totaling $23,999,522 in salaries.
The total is $496,663 less than FY25-26’s total of $24,496,185.
Maintenance and Operations rose $205,838 to $4,338,783. Student Transportation climbed $613,580 to $3,647,351. School Administration increased $32,424 to $3,637,870.
The School Nutrition Program’s budget remained at $4,065,500. A hybrid system is supported by federal reimbursements, state appropriations and local district revenues, operating through the Georgia Department of Education.
The USDA covers the majority of school meal costs through per-meal reimbursements based on student eligibility. Federal USDA Foods (commodities) also supplement cafeteria supplies, lowering purchased food costs The only other $1m+ line item was Pupil Support totaling $1,837,670 — up $815,344 over FY25-26.
Technology rose $86,824 to $796,608 with the School Safety’s budget set at $736,073 after an increase of $50,318.
The budget shows a $60,287 decrease ($108,000) in Instructional Staff Training; $22,703 cut ($366,801) to Improvement of Instructional Services; $17,689 reduction ($803,916) to Educational Media; and $10,950 ($536,983) sliced from Nursing Services.
The system will receive $1,674,583 from Bright From the Start for early educational needs.
